buying extremely overpowered PSU

I've been told that buying an unnecessarily high wattage PSU will increase efficiency, coolness and overall longevity. If I only ever plan to draw 800w(max) from a 1200w power supply, what are the advantages vs just a 850w power supply? Plan on both being 80+ platinum or gold. Money isn't a factor.

I've been told that buying an unnecessarily high wattage PSU will increase efficiency, coolness and overall longevity. If I only ever plan to draw 800w(max) from a 1200w power supply, what are the advantages vs just a 850w power supply? Plan on both being 80+ platinum or gold. Money isn't a factor.

No it will not. It will typically be the opposite because whenever you aren't gaming your rig is barely drawing any power. At that low of a load efficiency actually decreases. What are you trying to run?

I've read in random threads that buying a higher watt power supply does not always increase efficiency. Most power supplies are most efficient under a certain amount of load.

yes that is true. You want to get a power supply that fits your rig. You won't really see much of a difference when it comes to efficiency (technically there is a difference) but really the big thing is that it is completely pointless to get a massive power supply when you aren't going to be running four 480s.

Peak efficiency is around %50, but it's only going to be 2-4 percentage points from %80+ load so it's not as big a deal as you'd think.

The longevity is IMO the more interesting question, but I can't recall ever seeing a legitimate study of that.

My personal belief is that a PSU running %60-70 will last longer than one that's near full capacity if you stress your PC often, just by common sense. I don't know if anyone has any data to prove or disprove however.

yes that is true. You want to get a power supply that fits your rig. You won't really see much of a difference when it comes to efficiency (technically there is a difference) but really the big thing is that it is completely pointless to get a massive power supply when you aren't going to be running four 480s.

Peak efficiency is around %50, but it's only going to be 2-4 percentage points from %80+ load so it's not as big a deal as you'd think.
The longevity is IMO the more interesting question, but I can't recall ever seeing a legitimate study of that.
My personal belief is that a PSU running %60-70 will last longer than one that's near full capacity if you stress your PC often, just by common sense. I don't know if anyone has any data to prove or disprove however.

I've always heard that 80% is where the peak efficiency is at. Also unless you are folding on both CPU and GPU 24/7 you won't be stressing your computer that often.